Signings, Suggestions & Rumours Discussion

Nelson said:
I'm sure anyone would. Unfortunately I think the more likely trade with Canberra might be Liddle for an outside back that isn't getting much of a run - someone like Xavier Savage.

There are plenty of teams that could use some help at hooker, I think shopping Liddle is a pretty good idea. Teams that may be interested:

Parramatta (Mahoney going next year);
Cowboys (Robson a bit one-dimensional);
Roosters (struggling with injuries at hooker);
Raiders (Starling is best suited as an impact hooker);
Panthers (Ivan loves ex-Tigers, plus no Api next year);
Titans (terrible at hooker and have been for years);
Dragons (dour options at hooker and no spark);
Warriors (pretty poor options at hooker - but Liddle probably won't want to go there...);
Manly (have been poor at hooker and are still waiting on Fainu, who is likely to go to prison if convicted); and
Knights (poor options at hooker).

Get some bidding going and we might be able to attract a decent return.
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I'm sad to see Liddle go but the Panthers have a lot of talent that Ivan might be prepared to trade.
 
Earl said:
I think they just want him off the books. I can't see us getting a favorable trade for an unwanted player.
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Whilst he might not be favourable for us he could very well be for another team.

Keep in mind the main reason we are moving him on is because Api is coming and we have a large stock of young hookers in our ranks.

Liddle isn't a nuffie player, he does have the skills to play in the NRL especially if we ranked him against the other teams 1 & 2 NRL hookers in their squads. He will absolutely add value to a team.
 
Earl said:
I think they just want him off the books. I can't see us getting a favorable trade for an unwanted player.
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If other teams see him as an upgrade on what they have in a spine position then we absolutely could get a trade that nets us a decent player. If you can upgrade your spine even slightly and all it costs you is depth then you do it.
 
Needaname said:
Is there any chance of a club poaching Ellis Katoa?
Not sure what his contract situation is but with Tevanga, Curren, Harris fit again and the recruits of Niukora and Barnett he is not going to get much game time.
Could be similar to Stefano being next in line at Prop @ Parra prior to Parra Signing Regan Campbell Gillard.
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Yeah I was looking at him when I was running over potential Liddle trades. They're losing Aitken though and Tevaga is only really an option in the middle. Still, he'll be stuck behind Harris and Niukora next year so they might let him walk.
 
Needaname said:
Is there any chance of a club poaching Ellis Katoa?
Not sure what his contract situation is but with Tevanga, Curren, Harris fit again and the recruits of Niukora and Barnett he is not going to get much game time.
Could be similar to Stefano being next in line at Prop @ Parra prior to Parra Signing Regan Campbell Gillard.
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Yeah that’s a good shout. He was massive on debit year and has since dropped off. Wouldn’t break the bank either. Got loads of potential and could learn from pap next year
 
Bones said:
I’m not too disappointed we missed Nikora. I’ve been watching a fair bit of him since we were linked and while he goes ok he isn’t a top shelf 2nd rower. He isn’t even the best in his team. We made a good decision not getting into a bidding war for him.

Crichton I would go hard at.

Next target is a quality centre and a 40 odd minute prop who can add a bit of impact.

I’m happy to give Toa the rest of the season to claim the other centre position.
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Re Nikora I'm actually happy with how we are conducting ourselves right now and this was a great example of it. Sheens put a line in the sand of when our offer will last until and we refused to go nuts $$$ wise for a player in a position that we have large gaps in.

I can see Buzz argument about us having to pay overs to join us but you only do that for the right players that are game changers. Nikora is NRL quality, reliable & can run a great line but he isn't a game changer/winner.

Traditionally we would panic buy and pay overs. We haven't done that of late - well done Sheens and co!!!
 
Why would anyone want to get rid of AD? Him & hastings are players you ideally want to build the club around, players that are passionate & players who are willing to die for the jersey which is characteristics that you see in AD. He has been unlucky with injuries yes but we have seen that the potential is clearly there & he will be more hungry then ever to cement his place in the team with the emergence of the brooks/hastings combination. Also, with all this talk about back rowers, yes Crichton would be an amazing signing but if we miss out on him then it's really not a big deal. Blore is a heck of a player who has just been hit hard by injuries but we all know the talent is there. We have a crop of gun up & coming juniors in the back rower position who might fancy the idea of moving to other clubs should we fail to give them opportunity. Why for once in the clubs life can we not trust our junior & developmental system, after all isn't that what they're there for? For the clubs benefit not the rest of the competition.
 
Lets be honest though with signings, we all should have known that with Dolphins in the market for signings for an entire 30 man squad, its a players market out there and there is a new competitor for players on existing club rosters to consider.

Most of the players discussed in the multitude of previous pages did not want to leave their existing clubs and, to be frank, their clubs didnt want to loose them and have mostly been able to keep them. I dont think Crighton will come here to WT, although we should make an honest offer to him, but he will probably go to RaRa if Roosters cant fit him in.

Im all for getting Dykes as I reckon Laurie's heart remains at Penrith and think he will go back there at first opportunity.

I think for the moment we look to contest for Penrith / Parra / Storm / Sharks reserves stuck behind their main NRL squad- even saying that, the Dolphins are doing same too, so we are competing with them. PLUS, no doubt promote from within our own ranks and lock up most of our successful juniors to prevent raids on our own stocks.

I read somewhere that you can apply to NRL for a 5% discount on the spending cap to carry over if you cant spend up to the yearly cap- we should have done that already, rather than have to pay extra $$$ for greedy player managers.
 
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I dont get all this happy to miss out on Nikora business, im not happy we missed him he plays in a position we are very very light in. I am however happy we made an offer of his worth maybe even slightly above and his current club offered more so be it.

Its like Luch cowboys offer him $700 if we offered him $750 he stays here but thats way above his current worth, theres no point bending your cap so far out of whack for non spine players. Im also unhappy Luch is going but if we did pay $750 i wouldnt be on board with that.
 
magpies forever said:
Lets be honest though with signings, we all should have known that with Dolphins in the market for signings for an entire 30 man squad, its a players market out there and there is a new competitor for players on existing club rosters to consider.

Most of the players discussed in the multitude of previous pages did not want to leave their existing clubs and, to be frank, their clubs didnt want to loose them and have mostly been able to keep them. I dont think Crighton will come here to WT, although we should make an honest offer to him, but he will probably go to RaRa if Roosters cant fit him in.

Im all for getting Dykes as I reckon Laurie's heart remains at Penrith and think he will go back there at first opportunity.

I think for the moment we look to contest for Penrith / Parra / Storm / Sharks reserves stuck behind their main NRL squad- even saying that, the Dolphins are doing same too, so we are competing with them. PLUS, no doubt promote from within our own ranks and lock up mos of our successful juniors to prevent raids on our own stocks.

I read somewhere that you can apply to NRL for a 5% discount on the spending cap to carry over if you cant spend up to the yearly cap- we should have done that already, rather than have to pay extra $$$ for greedy player managers.
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You only need to spend up to 95% it’s no different.
Unless the 5% discount is implying clubs can request to spend up to 90% cap.
 
Needaname said:
Fair enough.
What about the comments that we didn’t want to offer the same as Cronulla?

If I remember correctly we made an offer around 1.65 x 3 years. (550k a season)
Then it was mentioned recently on here that despite having no other offers on the table and Cronulla undercutting him that his management came back to us requesting we up our offer to get the deal done.
Did Cronulla get talked into up there offer to beat our original one?
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Cronulla offered more. No more paying overs. He is no worldbeater anyway.
 
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